Monday, August 7, 2017

Post Mosul Liberation Day 26-27 Aug 5-6 2017

There was more violence in and around Mosul. On August 5,
four bodies were discovered
shot and tortured in Hadbaa in the northeast. The next day, an IED went off
in a house killing one and wounding another, a suicide bomber was killed,
thirty bodies were found
in a mass grave in a market, a teenage age boy’s body was uncovered
in the Old City, a policeman was wounded in a shooting at a checkpoint, and an
IS fighter emerged from a tunnel and shot
at two tribal Hashd killing one and injuring another. All of this happened in
the western section of the city. A leading Islamic State judge was arrested
with his family as well. Outside the city in Houd, in the Qayara district in
the southeast two IS elements died in a gunfight. Nearly every day there are
security incidents in Mosul and Ninewa in general. These are still scattered,
and have little impact overall, but they do show a low level of insecurity.
This is a major reason why so few people are going back to Mosul. The security
forces in Mosul are also being transitioned, which could open gaps, which the
insurgents could exploit.

The Tal Afar operation is delayed. The army’s 9th
and 16th Divisions were orderedout of Mosul to the Tal Far
operation. Their areas of the city were being transferred to the Federal
Police. The Air Force started bombarding
the district days ago. The Defense Ministry told Al Mada that the army and
police were ready, but they were waiting for the Hashd. They claimed they could
have taken Tal Afar at the end of 2016, but Prime Minister Haidar Abadi stopped
them and sent them to western Ninewa instead. Abadi said he told the Hashd to
attack Tal Afar, but was ignored. This is just part of the political disputes
that have surrounded the campaign from the start.

In the Qayara district a policeman’s body was found
likely the victim of a shootout with the Hashd. A week ago, the Iraqi forces
(ISF) closed a pontoon bridge across the Tigris River to try to stop the Imam
Ali Brigade from using it to smuggle oil. On August 4, a policeman went
missing, only to have his body turn up August 6. This was after the police got
into an argument with the Hashd over the bridge. The police didn’t seem to want
to confront the Imam Ali Brigade directly about its activities probably fearing
just such an incident would happen. Now the question is whether there will be
any consequences for this death.

While families are moving to Mosul, others are leaving. 20
families departed
from the Mesherfa neighborhood of west Mosul after they discovered IEDs. Unexploded
bombs, the continuing attacks, the lack of jobs, and high rents are all reasons
why people are departing the city. There are still more displaced leaving than
returning right now.

Kuwait was the latest country to pledge money to help Iraq
rebuild. It gave $100 million to improve health services in liberated areas of
the country. It already gave $21 million for industry and electricity in those
districts. That raises the amount of money Iraq has raised so far to roughly
$500 million. It’s estimated that Mosul needs $1 billion to repair basic
infrastructure, more for rebuilding housing and government offices, plus
additional funds for Ninewa in general. Iraq is looking for $100 billion
overall for a 10-year reconstruction plan. There will be two conferences coming
up, one in Kuwait and one in Washington to try to get most of this amount from
grants and loans from the international community and institutions such as the
World Bank.

About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. I have written for the Jamestown Foundation, Tom Ricks’ Best Defense at Foreign Policy and the Daily Beast, and was responsible for a chapter in the book Volatile Landscape: Iraq And Its Insurgent Movements. My work has been published in Iraq via NRT, AK News, Al-Mada, Sotaliraq, All Iraq News, and Ur News all in Iraq. I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5, Radio Sputnik, CCTV and TRT World News TV, and have appeared in CNN, the Christian Science Monitor, The National, Columbia Journalism Review, Mother Jones, PBS’ Frontline, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Institute for the Study of War, Radio Free Iraq, Rudaw, and others. I have also been cited in Iraq From war To A New Authoritarianism by Toby Dodge, Imagining the Nation Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq by Harith al-Qarawee, ISIS Inside the Army of Terror by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassahn, The Rise of the Islamic State by Patrick Cocburn, and others. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com